Building out…
Thanks to good record keeping we knew exactly where the drain lines were during the Walnut Creek build-out. Unfortunately, we didn't know they were almost 6 feet down. That was expensive.
Out to the Creek…
Our Walnut Creek store was our second location, opening in May of 2005.
Even with neighbors like Nordstrom, Coach, Pottery Barn, and Neiman Marcus, our Walnut Creek store was the only one that received constant complaints about the price of our gelato despite the fact we charged less in Walnut Creek than we did in San Francisco and Berkeley.
For the love of Berkeley…
Our Shattuck store was a destination for dates, after school meetings, pre and post performances at nearby theaters, homeless people, free sample seeking high schoolers, all 20+ members of Polyphonic Spree, capoeira players, California Jazz Conservancy students, BART riders, and more.
Churning gelato
In the first year of business our gelato was made in the back of the Berkeley shop. As we opened more stores, the state required us to open a centralized kitchen.
54 flavors…
For several years we offered 54 different flavors of gelato. It was a chore but also allowed us to experiment without disappointing people by not having their old favorites.
Freedom to create…
As Gelateria Naia we were able to begin making our own gelato from scratch recipes. We welcomed this challenge and thrived.
Over the years we have worked with so many other Bay Area companies to make amazing gelato flavors. Our first was Scharffen Berger Chocolate. We met John Scharffenberger at a trade show and he insisted we make our chocolate gelato with his chocolate.
It gets busy…
The Berkeley location was busy. During one late summer heat wave in 2004, just over 7,000 people came through the doors in a single week.
On Friday and Saturday nights we could have six people scheduled just to scoop gelato. Jesse, (far right) would work for us for several years and filled many positions within our company.
The idea…
We opened our doors for the first time on August 22, 2002.
At that time there were only four shops in Berkeley: Ben & Jerry's, Cold Stone Creamery, Yogurt Park, and us. We were the only shop actually making our own product from scratch. When our lease was up ten years later, the retail landscape had changed dramatically. We were now one of 22 different ice cream, gelato, yogurt shops in Berkeley.
The beginning…
When we first opened we were called Mondo Gelato. We had partnered with a small gelato shop out of Vancouver BC, Canada. We thought they were going to be a great partner but after just a few months we learned they knew little about business or gelato. We were making our gelato using pre-finished ingredients from Italy that came in cans and bags. It was delicious but not what we wanted to do.
Naia is born…
On Jan 2nd, 2004 we reopened the store under the name Gelateria Naia. Some people were confused but it is pretty simple. A pizzeria is where you get pizza and a gelateria is where you get gelato. Naia is the name of Bobby's daughter, who was born the same time the store opened. Later, Bobby's second daughter would ask when we were opening a business named after her.